54 Steak Recipes Every Carnivore Will Love

If there's one type of meat that's likely to be at the top of every carnivore's list, it would be steak, a cut of beef that, at its best, hardly needs more than a sprinkle of salt to be a feast fit for an oligarch. Sadly, you often need the bank account of an oligarch to be able to afford ribeye or filet mignon these days. More budget-friendly cuts often need a little assistance along the way, whether it be in the form of a tenderizing marinade or a preparation where they're enhanced with sauces, veggies, bread, and/or pasta.

The recipes you'll find here pretty much cover the spectrum. Yes, we cover steak as steak, where it's pretty much all about the preparation technique. (Pan-sear vs. grill: Which path will you choose?) We also cover marinades, sauces, stir-fries, sandwiches, and other recipes designed to give those cheap(ish) steaks a helping hand. What's more, we even branch out to include burger/steak hybrids of the cube or Salisbury type, as well as a single recipe for the other not-quite red meat, pork steak. We did, however, omit any type of fish or veggie steaks, since we're keeping it carnivorous here.

If you are cooking a steak from the less tender (and less expensive) end of the spectrum, the biggest favor you can do it is marinate it. A marinade doesn't need to be complicated, and the three ingredients here are enough to do the trick. The soy sauce adds some salty flavor,  while the oil helps the flavors stick to the meat and also prevents it from getting too dry as it cooks. The real star of the show, though, is the balsamic vinegar, which not only brings plenty of flavor of its own but also contains sufficient acid to turn tough cuts into tender ones.

Recipe: 3-Ingredient Steak Marinade

Chicken fried steak is probably not the kind of dish you're going to want to prepare with porterhouse — unless, of course, you're just showing off the fact that you own a cattle ranch the size of The Pioneer Woman's husband's spread and you have no shortage of boeuf on the hoof. If you've got a piece of sirloin, however, and you also have time on your hands, you may want to try your hand at this tasty diner classic. The steak, as the recipe's name implies, is dipped in batter and fried, then smothered in a creamy gravy. If the thought of doing such a thing to a pricey cut of beef seems like sacrilege, you can always try it with a pork steak, instead.

Recipe: Chicken Fried Steak

Steak au poivre is a classic French dish that was introduced to the U.S. by — who else? — the All-American French Chef herself, Julia Child. Child preferred to keep things simple, so she prepared her steaks in a pan. In this recipe, however, we've turned her dish into something that can be (partially) prepared on a backyard barbecue. The steaks, at least, can be grilled, but someone will still need to stay in the kitchen whipping up the delicious creamy pepper sauce that pretty much defines the dish.

Recipe: Grilled Steak Au Poivre

Got an air fryer? Then you probably like to use it for everything — well, at least once, as not every air fryer recipe is a keeper. If you haven't yet experimented with cooking a steak in your air fryer, you probably won't want to do it with a prime piece of beef that'll set you back half a week's paycheck. Should you score a good deal on marked-down sirloin, however, you might want to give it a try. Air fried steak actually comes out pretty tender and tasty. Plus, it's a lot less hassle to cook your meat in an air fryer than it is to go through the hassle of setting up an outdoor grill.

Recipe: Air Fryer Steak

Subway is a super convenient option if you're grabbing lunch in a hurry, especially since this ubiquitous fast food chain seems to have an outpost on every street corner. If your favorite sub on the menu is their Chipotle Southwest Steak And Cheese Wrap, though, you'd be surprised how much better this sandwich tastes if you make it yourself. For one thing, you're making it with fresh thin-sliced steak rather than steak that has been sitting in the restaurant's sandwich board. For another, you can customize it with your choice of cheese, vegetables, and other toppings without having to make any special requests of a reluctant sandwich artist.

Recipe: Copycat Subway Chipotle Southwest Steak and Cheese Wrap

If you've ever eaten at a steakhouse, particularly of the casual chain variety (Outback, Longhorn, Texas Roadhouse, etc.), you've probably noticed that the lowest-priced steaks on the menu are all of the sirloin variety. While sirloin steaks may lack some of the marbling of pricier beef cuts, they can actually cook up quite nicely with the right recipe. Here we're pan-searing the steaks using plenty of oil, then topping them with compound butter once they're done to add a little extra fat.

Recipe: Tender Sirloin Steak

Salisbury steak may evoke not-so-nostalgic memories of your elementary school cafeteria or perhaps a particularly sad evening when a microwaved frozen meal was the best you could muster. From-scratch Salisbury steak can be surprisingly tasty, though, and as this version is actually made from ground beef, it's likely to be a lot cheaper than an actual steak. Serve these meat patties in mushroom gravy over a bed of noodles or potatoes for an inexpensive, yet hearty meal that will satisfy your appetite without bumming out your taste buds.

Recipe: Simple Salisbury Steak

Only select cities have their own signature dish, and Philadelphia is among the lucky few. Ranking right up there alongside Buffalo wings, Cincinnati chili, Chicago dogs, and New York cheesecake is the Philly cheesesteak, a dish that combines two of the best ingredients known to sandwich-kind: sliced steak and melted cheese. Speaking of the latter, while this recipe calls for provolone, you can always go full-on Philly and make yours with Cheez Whiz instead.

Recipe: Easy Philly Cheesesteak

Beef stroganoff is a dish with a rather checkered history. It was originally a French-inspired entrée created for a 19^th-century Russian nobleman, but over the years it morphed into a mess of mushroom soup and hamburger meat. While our easy beef stroganoff recipe doesn't attempt to recreate stroganoff's original banquet table glory, it does make use of steak instead of ground beef and swaps out the canned soup for sour cream for a serious upgrade from the sad school cafeteria version.

Recipe: Easy Beef Stroganoff

Tired of tacos? Try making them with steak instead of ground beef. That, in itself, makes them much more fun to eat, and a bit less messy, as well. What makes these tacos even better, though, is that we top them with a delicious chimichurri. While the one in this recipe calls for cilantro, garlic, oil, vinegar, lemon juice, scallions, oregano, and crushed red pepper, you can actually ditch all but the first four ingredients and still have yourself a simple, yet tasty, sauce.

Recipe: Chimichurri Steak Tacos

Who is chef Ludo Lefebvre? If you watch a lot of food-related TV programming, including such shows as "Top Chef Masters," "The Taste," and "Selena + Chef," then you may have seen him chef-ing it up. If his name rings no bells, though, all you need to know is that the chef and restaurateur has earned a Michelin Star, so he obviously knows his way around a recipe. This steak au poivre is his take on a French classic. While, for the most part, Lefebvre sticks pretty closely to the traditional recipe, he puts his own stamp on the dish by calling for specialty ingredients like Madagascar green peppercorns and Fleur de Sel de Guerande.

Recipe: Chef Ludo Lefebvre's Steak Au Poivre

While Subway's steak and cheese may not be the authentic Philly product, it's still a pretty darn good sandwich in its own right, and you like what you like, right? If you're craving this sub but can't get to Subway, this copycat recipe is about as close as you can get without having your own on-call sandwich artist. It also goes together in mere minutes. Our secret? Using a bag of frozen, pre-chopped steak.

Recipe: Copycat Subway's Steak and Cheese

A classic beef wellington is made of roast beef wrapped in flaky pastry. Delicious if you pull it off right, but that's easier said than done. With this simplified version, however, you can use store-bought puff pastry and small steaks to make individual-sized beef wellingtons. In fact, this recipe is scaled for just two servings, but could easily be halved to make just one. That way, you can do a practice dry run before attempting to make this dish on a larger scale to impress guests.

Recipe: Easy Individual Beef Wellington

Need some more veggies in your diet? Broccoli is super nutritious, but you know what makes it taste a whole lot better? A generous helping of beef and some Asian-inspired seasonings. Cook the meat and vegetables up together in a crockpot seasoned with soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and chili garlic sauce, and then serve the whole shebang over rice or noodles to make for a hearty, healthy, and even heart-healthy meal.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Beef And Broccoli

The problem with chicken fried steak, as with anything battered and deep-fried, is that cooking it can be kind of a pain. This isn't so with this steak. For starters, the steaks, which are actually cube steaks, aren't battered but are simply breaded instead. What really makes this dish relatively hassle-free, at least compared to traditional chicken fried steak, is that it uses an air fryer to do the cooking. Not only does air-frying these steaks make for less mess, but they're also lower in fat.

Recipe: Air Fryer Chicken Fried Steak

Sometimes, we feel like experimenting with multi-step recipes with a longer list of ingredients. On most days, however, what we really want is something that's relatively easy to prepare and can be made with the kind of stuff we're likely to have on hand in the fridge and pantry.

As might be guessed from the title, these easy fajitas fit the bill rather nicely. Just take some steak, peppers, and onions, toss them in the old crockpot, sprinkle them with taco seasoning, then let the slow cooker do its thing for a few hours. While you can finish off the steak with a quick sear, this final step's not strictly necessary.

Recipe: 4-Ingredient Slow-Cooker Fajitas

Steak and kidney pie is a traditional British dish that never really caught on in the U.S. because organ meats aren't as widely consumed on this side of the pond. This is especially true when it comes to something like the kidney. It is, after all, part of the urinary system. Still, if you're in the mood to try something new, and you actually know where to lay your hands on lamb or beef kidneys, you might just find that steak-and-kidney-loving Brits are onto something good after all.

Recipe: Traditional Steak and Kidney Pie

If you like beef and you like broccoli, then you are a well-rounded omnivore with a healthy appetite — or at least an appetite for the healthy. You are also pretty much guaranteed to love this easy beef and broccoli stir fry. The two main ingredients are flavored with a tasty Asian-inspired mixture of brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil garlic, ginger, mirin, and lime juice, and will make for a complete meal if paired with plain steamed rice or noodles.

Recipe: Beef and Broccoli

What's a "sarnie?" This word is pretty much Brit-speak for "sammie," meaning it's a cutesie abbreviation for a sandwich. This recipe, however, doesn't call for any of that "W" sauce we can't always pronounce correctly. Instead, our spin on Jamie Oliver's sandwich seasons the steak with paprika, onion, garlic, and chili powders, while the sauteed onions are flavored with lime juice and brown sugar. These ingredients are then piled onto ciabatta bread for a simple sandwich that allows the steak to shine without having to share the spotlight with cheese.

Recipe: Jamie Oliver's Steak Sarnie

If the idea of beef stroganoff elicits nothing more than a "meh" from you, chances are you've been exposed to it in frozen food form. Yes, a few meager meat strips on a sad bed of noodles with a drizzle of bland gravy is barely worth the effort of pushing the microwave button. Still, the basic concept of beef strips, mushrooms, creamy sauce, and noodles is a fundamentally sound one, and if you try this from-scratch stroganoff, we guarantee you'll be in for a pleasant surprise.

Recipe: Classic Beef Stroganoff

Did you know that the term "steak fajitas" is actually a redundant one? Yes, the word "fajita" itself was derived from the Spanish term for skirt steak, which was what was used to make the original fajitas. This recipe calls for flank steak, although you could certainly use skirt steak if you prefer. All issues of authenticity and etymology aside, though, the best reason to make fajitas from steak (skirt, flank, or any other type) is that they just taste great. Cooking them in the crockpot, as we do here, will allow you to do most of your meal prep in the morning. When dinnertime rolls around, all you need to do is wrap the fajitas in tortillas and add your favorite toppings.

Recipe: Crockpot Steak Fajitas

Mongolian beef is about as Mongolian as Russian dressing is Russian, which is to say, not at all. The dish was actually created in Taiwan, and it's likely the version we're familiar with has been pretty thoroughly Americanized. If you're simply seeking a delicious, easy-to-make dinner rather than an authentic artifact of culinary anthropology, though, then you're sure to enjoy this dish of slow-simmered, garlic and ginger-spiced steak strips. Serve your Mongolian beef over noodles or rice for a meal that's as budget-friendly as it is tasty since just 12 ounces of meat can feed a whole family.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef

Want a meal in minutes? Stir fry's always a great option, although if you're bad at planning in advance you might need to tack on a little more time to that given in the recipe directions so you can defrost your steak to the point where it becomes sliceable. If it's still slightly frozen, though, that's okay, since it will make the slicing easier and those thin strips will cook up just fine. In fact, you can even shave off some compensatory time by subbing a bag of frozen mixed vegetables for the fresh ones.

Recipe: Classic Beef Stir Fry

London broil isn't a particular cut of meat, nor does it really refer to a specific technique, Contrary to what the name may have you believe, these steaks can be pan-seared as well as cooked under the broiler. So, what makes a steak a "London broil," then? Apparently, this term can be applied to any cheap(ish), tough cut that is tenderized by a marinade prior to cooking. In this particular instance, the marinade is made from balsamic vinegar seasoned with thyme, rosemary, garlic, and onions. While the recipe goes on to include directions for cooking the steak over an outdoor barbecue grill, feel free to substitute any cooking method you prefer.

Recipe: London Broil

Finally, a recipe that doesn't call for broccoli! Instead, this Szechuan beef is made with sirloin strips stir-fried with carrots and bell peppers. As the name implies, though, bell peppers aren't the only kind it contains. There are also crushed red pepper flakes, Szechuan peppercorns, and chili oil providing a little heat. If you can't find Szechuan peppercorns, don't worry! You can make a reasonable approximation of the flavor by combining equal parts of ground black pepper and coriander seeds.

Recipe: Spicy Szechuan Beef

If carne asada is one of your Mexican restaurant favorites, you might be surprised by how easy it is to make this dish at home. The only really time-consuming part of the process is waiting for the marinade to do its thing. A few hours in the fridge should do it, after which all you'll need to do is to season and cook the meat. Although this recipe shows a grill being used, you can also pan-sear the steak and it will taste just as good. In fact, the marinade is primarily composed of liquid smoke, so the carne asada will have that wood-smoked flavor no matter what cooking method you use.

Recipe: Carne Asada

Chateaubriand is another beef dish that is maybe not technically a steak, as it could be considered a type of roast beef. Well, the chateaubriand in this recipe, that is. Chateaubriand, it seems, is a vague term that can be applied to certain steak cuts such as porterhouse and T-bone, but it also refers to a beef tenderloin such as the one we're using here. Still, once the chateaubriand is roasted, the thick serving slices are somewhat steak-like in appearance, as is the fact that they're topped with compound butter. Steak or not, here's the recipe, it's delicious, let's not quibble over technicalities.

Recipe: Chateaubriand